TromboneChat

What is the most affordable carrier(s) for shipping internationally, if such a thing exists? I’m shipping a trombone to Spain and another one possibly Nottinghamshire, England. Outside of shipping costs, other advice is appreciated. I’ve never shipped abroad.

If you want a vacation, buy a plane ticket and take it there yourself.

I'm only partly kidding.

I shipped to a member in Iceland using the post office a few years ago. Best option at the time.

Most of the issues arise on the recipients’ end in the form of various sorts of import taxes.

Don't confuse "Declared Value" with insurance. Download the shipper's Terms and Conditions of Carriage and read at the section on Declared Value. In particular, pay attention to any limit of liability for musical instruments.

Both FedEx and UPS state that "declared value" is NOT insurance. (For example, the section on Declared Value in Fedex's Terms and Conditions of Carriage is titled:

Declared Value for Carriage and Limits of Liability (Not Insurance Coverage)

.

Furthermore, for international shipments, both limit their maximum liability for most musical instruments to $1000 per shipment (even though they will happily take your money if you want to declare a higher value.) This can really bite you if you ship both instruments at the same time and they appear on the same invoice, since that may be grounds for treating them as one shipment.

The bottom line is, don't count on "declared value" to insure your shipment. If you want to insure it and the value of the instrument is over $1000, you'll need to go through a third party insurer.

I have shipped a bunch of horns to Europe. USPS Priority and Priority Express generally run $100 and $130. In the past few months I have been coming up against an insurance limit of $500! This is a problem when I am shipping a horn worth between $1000 and $2500...

As a customer, I absolutely hate when merchants ship with UPS, FedEx, etc. I always request public postal services (I.e. USPS for items from the US). Private carriers have hidden fees/surcharge that they charge the recipient upon delivery, which they usually disguise as "customs clearance fees" (that is, on top of taxes and duties when applicable). For instance under NAFTA, there were no duties for importation between US and Canada, and USPS or Post Canada will only charge the recipient the applicable VAT/Sales tax, and no customs duties, but UPS will charge you an extra "customs clearance fee" on top of that, which on a 1500$ instrument can be a three digit amount. I've also had FedEx and UPS both harass me for payment of taxes and fees which they had in fact already collected during delivery yet somehow was marked as unpaid in their systems. I had to provide my credit card statements to prove it to them so they would stop harassing me. With FedEx, they kept sending me invoices despite me calling everytime to sort it out on the phone and being assured that the situation was corrected, only to have to do it again the next month and explain it all over again to another person and send my statement again. They even sent a debt collector after me for that money I actually didn't owe them, which lowered my credit rating.

If in a bind and you need to use a private carrier for some reason, of the major ones DHL usually has the lowest hidden fees, FedEx somewhat higher and UPS the highest.

Speaking as someone who recieves stuff from the US to The UK... Maximillien is right. Ship USPS because what happens over here in the UK when a USPS shipment arrives is that The Royal Mail handle it. At the border they take a random selection of parcels and put the odd one into a skip. When the skip is full Customs and Excise take the skip to their depot and examine each parcel assessing what extra taxes are due. All that the previous posters have said about declared value/insurance etc are true of course but Royal Mail here charge less to administer the exra taxes but the big thing is that if your trombone does not get in that skip whatever is put on the label counts and you will not pay any import charges at all. With UPS or Fed Ex you absolutely every time get charged import taxes and it is more costly to administer as well and the reciever picks it all up. I have never had a problem using USPS and their basic rate charges are less as well. You do at least stand a good chance of the reciever paying no extra taxes if you ship USPS

If buying from ebay the biggest con in the world is their Global Shipping programme, dont use it - their charges are wrong, excessive and totally unecessary. Stick to USPS

What's your experience with customs duty in Europe (specifically, Germany) when buying privately from the US? I find it difficult to find out how much the fee will be.

Also, what about import taxes (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer), does this apply when buying a used horn?

StefanHaller wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:29 am What's your experience with customs duty in Europe (specifically, Germany) when buying privately from the US? I find it difficult to find out how much the fee will be.

Also, what about import taxes (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer), does this apply when buying a used horn?

I have sold horns from Switzerland to Germany and as far as I know, the buyer always had to pay this pretty high import tax.

It may be different from the US but that wouldnt make much sense.

StefanHaller wrote: ↑Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:29 am What's your experience with customs duty in Europe (specifically, Germany) when buying privately from the US? I find it difficult to find out how much the fee will be.

Also, what about import taxes (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer), does this apply when buying a used horn?

Hi there,

in case you are importing a horn from a non-EU country to Germany, you have to pay custom fees (Zoll) and import taxes (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer). If the horn is new or used, purchased from a dealer or privately doesn´t matter.
Custom fees for brass instruments from the US were 3,2 % in 2017 (last time I bought a horn from US privately). Import taxes are 19% . But that would be to easy.

The actual amount you have to pay is:
Custom duty = 3,2% *(horn price + shipping costs)
plus
Import taxes = 19% *(horn price + shipping cost + custom duty)

Hope that helps.

Uli

greenbean wrote: ↑Sat Dec 15, 2018 11:43 pm I have shipped a bunch of horns to Europe. USPS Priority and Priority Express generally run $100 and $130. In the past few months I have been coming up against an insurance limit of $500! This is a problem when I am shipping a horn worth between $1000 and $2500...

I live in Sweden (EU) and have bought many horns from USA. I have always been satisfied with USPS.

When it comes to taxes and customs we have to pay about 25% tax plus about 3% customs. We also have to pay about 1% in a money conversion fee. The value to calculate is the total cost including shipping.

Personally I always added 31% on the price when I bid in ebay auctions when the item was located in USA. 31% will be a little to much but its better to calculate a little higher. It cover these fees.

All fees is for the buyer to pay

/Tom

Hello all. Next to everyone who responded to my initial query. Shipping to Spain via USPS what’s the way to go. I’m also pleased to see that this thread has gotten some extra mileage. And has served to help other members.

I’m looking at potentially sending a slide to Canada. Are there any considerations I should be aware of for doing this—outside of packaging and costs? In particular, regards to saving the recipient on customs.

There are no customs duties between the US and Canada, as long as the item was made in one of the two countries. UPS et al will charge a customs clearance fee but USPS / Canada Post won't. The buyer will have to pay for the sales tax; I've most often had only the federal tax (a bit below 10%), occasionally the provincial sales tax as well (will vary depending on where you're shipping to)